Tiger carries away woman in eastern India

Kolkata - A tiger snatched a woman and disappeared into the surrounding mangrove forest in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, an official said on Saturday.

The woman, her husband and a boat driver were trying to catch crabs in a shallow river near the Pirkhali Forest when the tiger jumped on her and dragged her into the wilderness, said forest official Nabin Chandra Bahunguna.

After the husband reported Friday's attack, forest guards searched for the woman, but as of Saturday had found no trace.

The area where the attack occurred is in the Sunderbans, India's vast and tangled mangrove forest where the Ganges River empties into the Bay of Bengal.

It was the sixth tiger attack this year in the Sunderbans, where environmentalists say shrinking habitat is forcing tigers to venture farther in search of food.